A Success Formula For The Ethical Individual

I full realize that no wealth or position can long endure, unless built upon truth and justice; therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects.
I will succeed by attracting to myself the forces I wish to use, the cooperation of other people.
I will induce others to serve me, necause of my willingness to serve others.
I will eliminate hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, and cynicism, by developing love for all humanity, because I know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring me success.
I will cause others to believe in me, because I will believe in them, and in myself.

From Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill

This Christmas madness

I have a confession to make: I don't like Christmas.

Even though I am a believer in Jesus Christ.

Or maybe because.

There's something about Dec 25 that makes everyone just a little crazy. What's with the long queues in the mall, not enough parking places, songs about winter and snowmen and reindeer that have no relevance to us in the Southern hemisphere, decorating trees and having a houseful of people over for Christmas lunch/dinner, and buying presents not just for one's own family but relatives and friends' children?

We're not living on the edge of poverty, but if we have to keep up with the way Christmas is done here, we certainly will be in danger of it.

I thought we were pretty bad in SG, the way we used to stress over what to get our CG members' kids. Each family would buy for the kids of all the other families, and we're not talking simple things like a box of chocolates. Kris Kringle didn't exist.

Here, I thought we'd finally escaped the consumer trap of buying presents and giving for the sake of giving.

But my girls have been the recipients of so many gifts from unexpected quarters that even though we have no intention of buying into the Christmas frenzy, we are now looking at their rapidly growing pile of presents under our little tree and wondering, how did we get to this? Is it right to have so much when others are struggling? Would anything change if we gave away some of our gifts? (Indeed, I made this suggestion to Beth and she was surprisingly receptive.)

Faith in action

A follow up on earlier post about Faith vs. Action.

Have emailed Good News Lutheran to request a school tour. Received an acknowledgement email yesterday and hope to hear from them soon. After that we'll have a chat with the principal and hopefully get all our questions answered so we can submit the enrolment form.

Have been dropping hints to Beth that she may be transferring out of Heathdale in two years' time so it won't be such a massive shock when it happens. I know she'll grieve over the separation from her friends and her comfort zone, but kids are resilient, and we've tried to highlight the positives: the $ saved could go towards holidays (RACV Royal Pines is still high on her list of favourites).

Other ways I can think of to cushion the blow: regular play dates with her Heathdale friends, Good News Gang on Wed (which is attended by GNL and Heathdale kids).

Last night, I finally got round to reading up on the ASG terms and conditions to get a grip on what we signed up to when we enrolled the girls in '07. More importantly, I needed to know how we would benefit and when.

The good news: when Beth turns 13 (Year 7), ASG will send us the amount of projected benefit ($4k+). The amount goes up every year until Year 12. Then when she starts uni, she is entitled to a scholarship benefit of $1k - 2k for 3 years. Same for Jordanne, except her benefits are more because she enrolled at a younger age.

It's good to know we'll get some help with school fees (esp if Beth's still in a private school and not at Suzanne Cory or on a scholarship to Westbourne Grammar, which is our best-case scenario) five years from now. Which means the years of financial stretch are actually just Years 4, 5 and 6 (2012 - 2014).

Still, at $6k pa for 3 years ($18k), that's still a huge outlay compared to GNL's $2700 x 3 years ($8100).

Imagine how much more good we could do and how much more we could give for God's kingdom with the savings.

Why should a good Christian education have to be prohibitively expensive?

How A Simple Charitable Idea Created Nearly 2000 Blankets For AIDS Orphans

When the soaring unemployment rate and mortgage stress are the topics that dominate our conversations and our thoughts, we all need a bit of cheering up.

Here's a story that will inspire you and help put your challenges in perspective.

Sandy started Knit A Square to attract interest to her aunt's charitable cause in Soweto, South Africa.

The resulting response from visitors to the site is simply amazing.

Read Sandy's story here.

To log in as my guest on the forum, simply key in career-change-confidence.com as your ID and password.

You will then see yourself logged in as "Guest of Career-Change-Confidence.com".

Enjoy.

Music Teaching - The Second Year

I have started teaching keyboard again, without actively planning for it.

I had an inquiry from a friend at church, who asked if I would coach her two boys.

I said yes, and we started on Sat after I'd assessed where they are currently in their level of musical understanding.

One is a complete beginner. The other plays the guitar, so he already knows quite a bit about chords.

I am teaching chord piano using a combination of resources by Scott "The Piano Guy" Huston and Duanne Shinn, "The Headless Piano Teacher".

It's so much more fun than learning classical piano, I tell you.

On Sunday, I had an inquiry from another family about beginner lessons for their teenage son. They're shopping for a keyboard, so once they've got that sorted, we can start lessons.

I'm so excited at being able to share my music knowledge with young people, and to be able to introduce them to the joy of playing the keyboard without the stress and hassle I endured during my time.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know Valentine's Day is such an overcommercialized occasion.

But let's look at how we can make it what it was meant to be: a time to remember those we love.

What do you do for those you love? What do you wish for them?

I'm guessing you would spend some time, effort and maybe money making them feel special.

And you would wish only good things for them.

Health. Peace. Abundance. Joy. Freedom.

So if your loved one could use some health-giving information, you could point her in the right direction, say to a book about nutritional medicine or a website dedicated to organic health products.

If your loved one has lost his job because of the recession or is struggling to find meaning in his work, you could show him how to create an income that doesn't depend on the economy or the benevolence of his employer.

As the oft-quoted wisdom says, the simplest and best things in life are free.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thoughts on Ageing

Lately, I have been thinking about ageing.

It started with the shocking discovery of 5 or 6 white hairs on the top of my head. I haven't had my hair coloured since I was pregnant with my younger daughter, who just turned 2. I've no plans to dye my hair for the sake of covering up the evidence of ageing. I may change my mind though.

Today, I was thinking about something that I find profoundly difficult: my mother. What will I do as she gets older? Will I have to move back to Sg? If I don't move in with her, what kind of example will I be setting for my children? And if I do move in with her, how will I cope with all the emotional baggage from our dysfunctional relationship that I've suppressed for the past 20 years?

I read stories of people who have done well and wonder: what will it be like when my husband and I are in our 50's? Will we have the means and the options, or will our options be constrained by our means? Will we do a sea change - retirement village - aged care home, and all the way the gradual but certain descent into physical immobility?

Two things remind me of how transient and irrelevant all these anxieties are. At the same time, the words of One who was both human and divine come back to me. Life is meant to be abundant and joyful, regardless of one's personal circumstances and bank balance.

"I am come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly."

The first is The Shack, one of the most uplifting and transforming books I've read.

In the novel, Jesus tells me what I need to know but have forgotten.

• Life is about relationships, not rules.
• God is about love (a verb), not religious institutions.
• God doesn't want to make people into Christians; He wants to invite them into a relationship with Him.
• We have inherited a broken world because Adam sinned. If he had resisted the temptation to be independent, we would still be living in Eden and not arguing about climate change. Evil comes from wanting to be independent of God.
• God does not cause tragedy; tragedy is the consequence of a sinful and imperfect world that has chosen to live apart from God. But God can use tragedy to bring about a greater good.

The second reality check came from reading about the work of FoodWaterShelter, an Australian non-profit organization dedicated to buiilding villages for orphans in East Africa. The FWS team is made up completely of volunteers. One of the founding members talked of how she felt frustrated by the inability of many of her countrymen to appreciate how far they had come and how blessed they are.

This extract from the FWS website neatly sums up why they operate the way they do:

By using our creativity and forethought from the outset, we plan to impart knowledge and skills in a way that ensures we are needed less as each project develops. This not only allows us to concentrate our services where they are most required, when they are most required, but also ensures we leave the locals a legacy – and that’s what we’re all about.

In the end, life is about living well and dying well. Raging against the dying of the light is not part of the Grand Design. Life was not meant to be held on to tightly, but is just a doorway to something better and more beautiful and more lasting than our limited minds can imagine. In the meantime, there is much abundant living for me to do, and that includes thinking more about how I can make a difference in the world and less of how I can get those things I think I need to live well (like financial freedom: what does that mean anyway?).

Lending To The World's Poorest

I was reading a one-of-a-kind blog post today and it gave me an idea.

How's this for a unique Christmas gift - make a microloan to a poor entrepreneur in the developing world.

The idea is not new. Think Dr Mohamed Yunus and Grameen Bank.

But Kiva.org is the first of its kind. It uses the power of the Web to connect small lenders like you and me directly to real individuals who need the money, who know what to do with it, but whom banks won't lend to.

For as little as US$25, you can change lives.

As the borrower repays the loan, you get your money back.

What a powerful and sustainable way to lift someone out of poverty.

How's that for a Christmas gift that keeps on giving?

Read on about how Kiva.org has inspired Ken Evoy.